Jan 12, 2019 5 min read

No. 15 North Carolina State lost both a starting big man and its point guard. Good thing for the Wolfpack that their depth is the envy of most teams.

DJ Funderburk scored 12 of his career-high 18 points in the second half, and N.C. State beat Pittsburgh 86-80 on Saturday.

Devon Daniels scored 19 points, Eric Lockett added 12 of his season-best 17 points after halftime and Torin Dorn – the only starter to reach double figures – finished with 12 for the Wolfpack (14-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference).

“It’s just a testimony to the chip on our shoulder that we play with, how hard we play, and just trying to come together as a brotherhood and trying to figure out what we’re doing wrong and just come down and get the win at the end of the game,” Funderburk said.

They bounced back from a tough loss to rival North Carolina and won their eighth in nine games despite losing two starters in the first half after big man Wyatt Walker was ejected and point guard Markell Johnson was injured. N.C. State averages 35.9 points from its bench players, and they combined to score 54 in this one.

“No matter the situation, we’ll find somebody who will step up and play well in the game,” coach Kevin Keatts said.

Freshman Xavier Johnson had 20 of his season-high 25 points in the second half, Au’Diese Toney scored 17 and Terrell Brown added 10 for the Panthers (11-5, 1-2), who led by four points with less than 6½ minutes remaining but couldn’t finish off a second straight conference victory.

Lockett hit two of the four 3-pointers and scored eight points during the Wolfpack’s game-breaking 16-4 run, which C.J. Bryce capped with a jumper that made it 73-65 with just under 3 minutes left. Pitt didn’t get closer than five the rest of the way.

The Panthers were coming off their first ACC victory since they upset No. 17 Florida State in February 2017. They were trying for their first winning streak in league play since earlier that month. They’re clearly improved over last year’s team that went 0-18 in the ACC but wound up with their 13th straight road loss in the conference.

“We’re still learning, we’re still growing, we’re still trying to figure out how to win on the road in this league,” first-year Pitt coach Jeff Capel said. “We have to minimize all those mistakes, and we have to be really good at the little things.”

Oklahoma State 85, West Virginia 77: With an upcoming home stretch, it looks like Oklahoma State is getting hot at the right time.

Isaac Likekele had some fun, scoring a career-high 23 points with nine rebounds to lead the Cowboys to its first true road win, beating West Virginia 85-77.

“I was definitely having fun. I was just trying to remain focused on the game plan and remain aggressive,” Likekele said. “Most importantly, it was fun because I feel like everybody believed and everybody wanted to come in here and win. We were just so determined.”

After an ugly, back-and-forth first 15 minutes, the Cowboys (8-8, 2-2 Big 12) had a one-point lead before Cameron McGriff led a quick 11-2 run with five straight points to stretch the margin to 10 with two minutes left. The Cowboys led 39-28 at halftime.

Lamont West and James “Beetle” Bolden gave the Mountaineers (8-8, 0-4) a spark out of the break to cut the Cowboy lead to three with a little over 10 minutes to play.

Likekele then led Oklahoma State on a 12-4 run with nine points to put the Cowboys up by double digits. West Virginia would not recover.

McGriff finished with his fifth double-double of the season with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Curtis Jones came off the bench to score 15.

Bolden led the Mountaineers with career-high 31 points. WVU freshman phenom Derek Culver posted his third double-double of the season with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Lamont West added 13 points.

The loss gives the Mountaineers their first 0-4 start in conference play since the 1995-96 season, when they lost to Georgetown, Connecticut, Pittsburgh and St. John’s to start their inaugural Big East season.

Regular Mountaineer starters Wesley Harris and Esa Ahamd did not see any playing time for West Virginia. Sagaba Konate also sat out his seventh straight game with a knee injury.

“All of those guys are like my kids just like all of the guys I’ve had in the past,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said about not playing Harris and Ahmad. “As a parent sometimes, you want more for your children than they want for themselves and that’s a very frustrating situation to be in.”

LIU Brooklyn 80, Robert Morris 73: Raiquan Clark scored 24 points, Jashaun Agosto added 21 with nine assists and LIU Brooklyn beat Robert Morris 80-73.

Tyrn Flowers scored 16 points with eight rebounds and the trio of Blackbirds (8-8, 2-2 Northeast Conference) combined to shoot 22 of 32 from the field. LIU Brooklyn finished 29 of 50 from the field.

Josh Williams scored 20 for Robert Morris (8-9, 3-1). Charles Bain added 17 and Malik Petteway 10.

Duquesne 85, St. Joseph’s 84: Michael Hughes had 17 points and eight rebounds and Duquesne overcame a 15-point deficit to beat Saint Joseph’s 85-84.

The Dukes (11-5, 2-1 Atlantic 10) went on an 11-2 run to lead 82-75 on Hughes’ pair of free throws with 44 seconds left in the game. The Hawks (7-9, 0-4) made three 3-pointers in the final 37 seconds, but Duquesne made 3 of 6 free throws which was enough to hand Saint Joseph’s its fourth straight loss.

Saint Joseph’s opened the game with a 22-7 lead. But the Dukes had a 17-2 run to erase the deficit and take the lead before halftime.